Preparing For Eternity (part 3)

Preparing For Eternity (Part 3)
So on Sunday we saw how God will pour out His wrath on a Christ rejecting world (chapter 8 and 9),that is what chapters 6-19 basically cover (there really is no basic about it because there is so much detail but it is hard to interpret by ourselves). I will try to scratch the surface and get us through 19 so bare with me.
Chapter 10 is a sunnier chapter that follows 9’s dark and dismal setting. We have an angel come down from Heaven (has taken on many of God’s attributes because he has been with Him for so long) and a rainbow is on his head.
Revelation 10:1 “And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head…”
Verse 4 brings about much speculation but we need to understand a few things.
Revelation 10:4 “And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.”
Why would he (John) mention something and then not explain or tell us? The Seven day Adventists and Mormons have a lot to say about these thunders sealed message, but in my book that is adding to the script because my Bible (all Bibles) is mute on this point. Deuteronomy 29:29 “The secret things belong to Me, says the Lord.” So here is Jon Courson’s stance on the blessing of not knowing what the thunders said.
Not knowing keeps us:
Humble- we are humble when we don’t know everything, pride is a beast and usually shows up in a guy with a wealth of knowledge “know it all”, don’t they erkk you! Sadly that can be me to often.
Useful- keeps us focused on what He has blessed us with knowing, “stay focused man!”
Stable- God gives us a peace that passes our understanding (Phillipians 4:7 /thanks Blake). Focus on Him and we have peace but when we try to figure the world out we have anxiety.
Chapter 11 – about the halfway point of the tribulation
Revelation 11:1 “…rise and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.” This implies that the temple (4th) will be rebuilt at least before the middle of the tribulation. Revelation 11:3 “And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.” This verse is introducing the fact that there will be two witnesses on the earth who will be doing major work for the kingdom, hollering out “Repent and be saved”. If you read on you see that God gives them great authority and power to bring down plagues and shoot fire from their mouth to devour their opposition. So you can imagine that all the pagans (non-believers on earth) will hate these two (I have been taught they will be Elijah and Moses) witnesses for convicting people and bringing in intense plagues. Verse 7 we see Satan come from out of the bottomless pit and battle these two (like Darth Vador verse Obie One) and be victorious. The witnesses then will lie dead in the street for 3 ½ days while the inhabitants of the earth party all around them, rejoicing that the devil killed them. Then in verse 11 God’s spirit enters them and they stand up infront of a crowd of people only to have a voice from heaven say “Come up here”. Prompted by the Spirit and the voice they ascend to heaven miraculously blowing the onlookers minds, can you imagine? The chapter goes on to convey God’s wrath through an earthquake, lightning storms, and hail storms. The people who corrupt and pollute the earth will be destroyed while the witnesses who serve God will be saved. Unfortunately in verse 18 we read that “and the nations were angry” implying that instead of worshipping God for His power and sovereignty they are mad and hate Him, weird.
Well I failed at getting us to chapter 19 and you can see why, Revelation is filled with too much meat. I don’t want to fill you all up too much it takes time to digest this stuff. I once again hope you all are enjoying this. There is a powerful witness in being able to explain the contents of this book and like Tyler said, we will all be blessed for reading it (Rev 1:3).